Possible to skip a year?

[M2boy]

Has anyone's child skipped a year in school?

My child is unhappy in school (yr 3) mostly because it's 'too boring' and child is above average in all subjects. Is skipping a year ever an option?

Unfortunately, we can't home educate.

There is so much more to your child than his academic prowess, and he needs time and space to develop all of that. The social and emotional elements of school are far more important than you may realise, and your child's sense of who he is needs to be developed in every aspect, not just the academic.

My DS was in university with young people whose entire personality was built around their prowess in mathematics, and they found it difficult (some to the point of utter despair, sadly) to cope with the mediocre marks they got in the incredibly tough classes they were taking. By contrast, the kids who had spent their school years developing resilience and a more nuanced idea of who they were and what they had to offer were able to pick themselves up and just work harder.

I'm the parent of children who were well ahead of the game in school, and saw it as my job to provide enrichment for them at home if they were twiddling their thumbs in school. So they did drama, sport, art, and music, and read everything the local library had to offer. When they were teens, they did part time jobs and learned a huge amount from their experiences, including time management and dealing with difficult people. These were the experiences that stood to them.

I was at school with a girl who should have been in the year below. I remember she had to take an enforced gap year as universities wouldn't accept a 17 year old.

Why on earth would you want this? Would surely be detrimental for the child socially and developmentally having peers a whole year older just because he’s good at maths? Weird.

My mother was pushed up a year and found herself on her own at university at just 17. She was fine but looking back agrees she was far too young.

Not in my experience DS (april born) " skipped" yr 4. Was incredibly bored by the end of primary went to a SS grammar now on track for (his words) " an easy first" in a STEM subject at Oxbridge. PHD next year- I wouldn't say he was average.

May be it's a she. Prejudiced much.

I remember a girl from a local sports club, she was at a private school and had skipped a year ahead earlier on/at primary school

So she was my age but in the academic year above

She performed unexpectedly poorly in her A-levels and missed out on her university place, doing re-sits in her gap year so she could go the following year

You can make a developmental progress in one area and be ordinary or behind in others and then next term it changes. That's how child development works.

It was suggested at one point that my child could skip a year. However my understanding is that they would have then had to repeat year 6 because the local secondary schools wouldn't accept them a year too young. I thought that seemed like a really bad idea so we didn't do it.

I think the school need to work on stretching him with more differentiated work and you need to help him develop tools for friendship. Because the friendship issue is unlikely to be made better by skipping a year, could be made worse. Can you invite kids over for play dates, etc?

skipping a year is rarely a good idea. Like others have said there’s issues down the line, he misses a year worth of curriculum which for maths especially could have implications. Saying that it depends how bright he is. My nephew was moved in year 7 to sixth form but just for maths lessons. So technically he must have missed the entire year 8-11 maths syllabus but he’d sat his gcse and passed it so he must have taught it himself at some point (he did maths stuff non stop at home). But he stayed with his year group for everything else.

If you miss a year what happens when you’re 17yo and want to go to uni….because of safeguarding stuff I’d have thought it’s unlikely these days a university would have an under 18yo? I know it used to happen. Or just been 17yo and the rest of your class in sixth form is 18yo and going to the pub and you can’t!

Yes I understand that; that's why I wrote 'obviously development isn't linear' - it was more that everyone doesn't actually come out the same in the end or there wouldn't be such a wide range of achievement at eg GCSE level

They used to do year skipping when I was a kid - it generally didn’t seem to do the kids any favours, regardless of their intelligence they were that bit less mature so it wasn’t great for them socially.

If he skips a year, he'll probably go from being "the clever one" in his class to being distinctly average or maybe even struggling in some things. That's a big identity change to cope with at that age, alongside all the social adjustments he would have to make. I wouldn't.

Really - do not do this.

Primary schools are full of young geniuses whom their parents think are bored and need to be "stretched" more, but remember that he is learning a great deal more than just academics. He is learning to socialise with his peers - and peers is the operative word. He does not need to be with those in the year above - he needs to be with his peers.

Talk to his teacher about how his talents can be used in class to relieve his "boredom" - but please do not forget that all children say they are bored in school at some point.

He may seem ahead now, but it all levels out as time goes by. They progress in spurts.

What had you planned for him when he reaches the top of the school? - repeat Year 6? Go to secondary a year early? - if you can find a secondary that will go with that.

Primary school is the chance to get to know the world and its ways; not just a learning factory.

I had this done to me by my parents. I finished up going to university early and far too young. I was quite out of my depth - not in terms of the academics, but socially, emotionally, readiness to cope away from home etc. It was the worst decision they ever made.

Leave him be - let him float for a bit - he has the rest of his life to achieve and achieve - childhood is for a bit of dreaming as well as learning.

A child saying they are bored does not necessarily mean they are working significantly above the levels expected for their age, but it can be a good way of deflecting parents from what they are really doing or not doing in class. PP have explained why it is rarely a good idea academically or socially to skip a year-group. School would be suggesting this to you if they felt it was the most viable way of meeting your child’s needs.

First port of call should be to speak to the class teacher, but be prepared to hear that their perception of how your child is doing is different from what your child is telling you. Ask how they are supporting your child in school academically and socially, what your child needs to be doing and how you can help them at home.

Also encourage DC to be involved in activities out of school that don’t rely on academic attainment and which give them opportunities to be with slightly older children. Cubs would be a good call, but not the only one.

Oh don’t do this. It was common when I was small and it’s worked out badly (social development) for everyone I know who did it. Their intelligence became their character, and that’s not good for life.

Their intelligence became their character, and that’s not good for life. - how very true.

Our neighbours have relatives in Spain and have gone there for a year with their year 4 aged child. I don't know what arrangements they have had to make re education. They had to give up their place at primary school and they think they will be returning to same school. I'd be surprised by this because they live very near catchment school and the school they chose is very over subscribed school out of catchment.

Trust me, when he is at secondary school you will not be wanting him to be hanging about with the year above, or the year above that. A teen who should be in year 9 going to year 10 and 11 parties 😱💨🍹

The social side so often gets emphasised in this sort of context, and I agree that for most bright children it is best to be with their age group peers. However, if a child is not making real friends in their age group because there is a mismatch of interests and abilities, it is possible that they might do better socially to be moved up, especially at primary age. I know I would have benefitted from being moved ahead age 6 or 7; but the school I was at then wouldn't consider it despite a recommendation. Later my secondary school suggested moving me into year 8 and my parents decided that I would miss too much important curriculum. That would not have been the case had I skipped year 2 or year 3!

My daughter knew someone at her prep school who was ahead a year, I think he then went back to his original year when leaving at "13+" which may have been a very effective compromise. I just remember that he was also brilliant at sport so being out of year was not a problem there either!

Personally I don't like lock-step age-based progression in education, I wish there was a bit more automatic flex - so that moving ahead and staying back were both more normal.

I think Y3 can be a bit of an odd/stagnating year - they're no longer tiny infants, but some DC are ready for something more stretching and some are not. Certainly my DD had a not very enjoyable Y3 (and then similar in Y8, which is another transitional kind of year). Y4 was much better for her, and hopefully will be the same for your DS - he's nearly done with Y3 anyway.

Probably all the more reason for him to stay with his peers then. Older kids are probably not going to befriend him any more than those his own age. In fact they are probably going to be more emotionally mature, more able to manipulate and bully and less likely to relate to him. If he is lacking social skills then you and the school should be worrying more about nurturing this side of his development than the academic side.

Academically though the school should be differentiating his work appropriately if he's that bored. I'd also say though that unless he's literally Einstein there will probably always be things he can be improving on even if it's a bit basic for him. He needs to learn to behave appropriately too despite boredom. Unfortunately part of becoming more grown up is that there's tonnes of mundane things that you just have to tolerate in life if you want to be successful. Being smart doesn't absolve you from this. My dd could read quite fluently by halfway through reception year and knew all her phonics sounds. She spent another year and a half sitting through phonics lessons that she'd already nailed. Not once did she or the teacher complain that she was bored because she understood what was expected of her. A few others in the class were in a similar position and no problems with them as far as I know either.

If you think your boy needs 'stretching' then maybe find some afterschool activities. A musical instrument? Chess club? Coding club? There's lots of ways he can be stimulated.

Have a look at the gifted and talented board.

What are their standardised scores? You can be achieving above in all subjects but unless you have a standardised score of 140 your child isn't gifted.

Both our two are gifted and have remained in their own class. Stretching is wholly teacher dependent and has got better further up the school.

There is a jump from lower to upper juniors. A lot of "exceeding kids" in Year 3 are now "achieving".

My husband was moved up two classes and sat GCSEs early and was resistant for our kids. Mainly because if you do GCSEs early you end up plugging gaps with further GCSEs in statistics / early AS levels / further maths because Universities like you to have continuous learning.

Like a PP has said, stretch out at home. Read Tolkien, Austen and Dickens. Play musical instruments. Play Chess. Build and code robots.

Pretty sure it's not even an option these days in state schools? Have you discussed it with the school?

I was put up a year in primary school - from Y5 to Y6. Disaster - the Y6 kids already knew each other well and were v suspicious of the newcomer. Socially disastrous. And that's more important than academics at that age.

If he's bored, ask for extension work and get him doing extra stuff outside school.

If he's saying he has no friends, make more of an effort with play dates and out of school clubs so he finds his tribe.

If you miss a year what happens when you’re 17yo and want to go to uni….because of safeguarding stuff I’d have thought it’s unlikely these days a university would have an under 18yo? I know it used to happen. Or just been 17yo and the rest of your class in sixth form is 18yo and going to the pub and you can’t.
@CamillaMacauley

Most universities will still take 16/17 year olds. But they are not thrilled by the idea and make that very clear to you.

The rules and stipulations that are put in place are strict, and they do not have the normal university experience at all.

Sometimes that is still the right step to take, but having been accelerated a year myself and having a sibling who was 2 years accelerated, it's not something to do without a lot of thought.

And it is much better to be making decisions around being out of cohort when they are much older and it is a conscious, positive decision with all the pros and cons weighed up and discussed with the child. Finding yourself in that position by default because of choices made in early years of Primary is very different.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow would the course need an Ofsted inspection if they have an under 18yo as a student?